The Knowledge: Where Poems Come From and How to Write Them

by David Kirby

A five-time teaching award winner and author of 35 books, David Kirby has written a lively and inviting guide to writing poetry for college students. The Where Poems Come From and How to Write Them , utilizes Kirby’s hospitable, inspirational, and expert voice to help students learn the complex, playful, and meditative art form of poetry. The book’s four sections (“How to Write a Poem,” “How to Write a Really Good Poem,” “Immortality is Within Your Grasp,” and “You Graphomaniac, You”) are staggered to gradually build student confidence and skill, and include works from over 70 poets—including Joy Harjo, Terrance Hayes, Marilyn Nelson, Franny Choi, Emily Dickinson, and Natalie Diaz—to illuminate key points and spur student reflection and writing. The Knowledge , writes Kirby, helps students craft poems the way Jimi Hendrix talked about making music—“Learn everything, forget it, and play.” Each chapter is brimming with tips and suggestions for writing great poems, and concludes with summative talking points and dozens of unique prompts to nudge students to contribute to an art form that is “thrumming with life.”

440 pages, Paperback

Published July 29, 2021

About the author

David Kirby (born 1944) is an American poet and the Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of English at Florida State University (FSU).

Kirby has published over 20 books, including collections of poetry, and literary criticism. His new and selected poetry collection, The House on Boulevard St. (Louisiana State University Press), was nominated for the 2007 National Book Award in poetry. His work has won numerous awards, including four Pushcart Prizes, the James Dickey Prize, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation.

Kirby obtained his Ph.D. in 1969 from Johns Hopkins University. He lives with his wife and fellow poet Barbara Hamby in Tallahassee, Florida.

Reviews

[jade lavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fun, helpful, and strangely philosophical. Although, I do wish there was more of the world’s best loved poems used. Most of the poems he provided in this were a bit out there; which there’s nothing inherently wrong with, I just feel as if beginners would profit more from learning the classics first, then the contemporaries.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funnest textbook ever. Kirby's approach is inviting, the talking points and prompts are engaging, and the examples, pleasingly varied.